Page 72 of John Wilder Gets Schooled
“Yeah?” Chase’s brows knit together. “Well, don’t fuck it up, or I’ll fuckyouup.”
“What did Bobby say about threatening customers, Chase?” the cashier said mildly.
I looked Chase’s skinny frame up and down and took in his murderous expression. I’d never had someone threaten me over who I was dating before, and it kind of felt like a rite of passage. And I was glad Wilder had people like Chase in his corner.
“I won’t fuck it up,” I said. “Wilder’s special, and he deserves every good thing I can give him.”
Chase’s brow uncreased and something like a grudging smile flitted across his features. “Yeah,” he said. “He does. Just… be agoodboyfriend, yeah?”
There was that word again, and the thrill I felt at hearing it had me grinning from ear to ear as I took my flowers and left.
When I got homeI took a minute to try and make the flowers look less like they’d been attacked by a goose, and then I walked over to Wilder’s place, my heart beating wildly. I was as nervous as a teenager picking up his prom date. Which, for the record, had never actually happened. Let’s just say I wasn’t a social butterfly as a teenager. Translation: I’d been too scared to ask my crush to prom. Instead, I’d gone with a group of friends, all of us pretending it was because we were too cool for bullshit like high school relationships and not because, you know, nobody would date us. But if I had ever picked up a prom date, I imagined this was exactly as nerve-racking as it felt.
And anyway, I might not have had a prom date, but now I was dating the hottest guy in town. So I was definitely winning. High school me wouldn’t have believed his luck. Actual me barely did.
Before I reached the house, the front door flew open and Gracie burst down the stairs with the speed of a lion chasing down a gazelle. Then right before she collided with me, she suddenly stopped and stared at her feet.
“Hi, Gracie,” I said.
She wriggled and looked up at me. “Hi, Mr. Smith.”
“Is your dad in?” I asked, even though I could see him leaning on the rail at the top of the porch steps.
She nodded, suddenly shy the way little kids were when their feelings got big.
“I bought you something,” I said. Her eyes widened as I plucked the nicest, most intact flower from the bunch and handed the rest to her.
“Daddy!” she bellowed. “Daddy, look!”
Wilder loped down the steps, rubbing the back of his neck the way he did when he was embarrassed. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I said and held the remaining flower out to him.
He took it, his eyebrows raised. “What’s this for?”
I tilted my head and considered. “Tradition, mostly. I bought my boyfriend flowers. Well,aflower. I wanted to do something nice for you.”
His cheeks were red, and he stared at the same patch of ground that Gracie had inspected a few moments before. I could see the curl of his mouth, though, and when he looked up again, it was a proper smile. “Nobody’s ever—I mean, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I glanced down at Gracie, who was sitting on the step and counting her flowers. “So, you are coming over later, right?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah.” He swallowed and then nodded. “You, uh, kissed me in the school parking lot.”
My face warmed. “You kissed me back.”
“I guess I did.” He laughed softly, and then his expression grew serious again. “About the other night. You said we could date, and then—and then you said you didn’t want to.”
I thought back to the twins’ birthday party. Had I said that? Or was that just what he’d heard? I winced. “You took too long to answer. I wanted to give you an out. You know, the sort where we could both pretend I hadn’t just humiliated myself in front of you.”
“That’swhat was going on?” he asked, his brow creasing.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this at all, but I’m a very awkward and uncomfortable person.”
“I think you’re pretty okay,” he said.
“Oh, high praise indeed,” I said, even though I had the feeling that coming from Wilder it actually was.
“I think you’re more than pretty okay,” he amended. “That’s why I took so long to answer. It didn’t make sense that someone like you could be interested in someone like me.”
